BoBoBo-Bo BoBo-Bo Was SO WEIRD | Billiam

yeah this is billiam making content about things i remember seeing growing up as like fishing for vague memories for example it took me weeks to figure out what the picster was despite the fact that i vividly remembered what it did i only have a passing familiarity or vague memories of many of the things i cover on this channel but one thing i remember incredibly vividly despite having only seen a few episodes of it as a kid is bobabo bo [Music] shortened as boba beau three bow one bow two bow one bow bow bow bow bow bobo the show is a surrealist absurdist comedy anime that uses the framing device of a standard shonen action show bobabo is the seemingly quiet cool protagonist you sure helped me out bud hold on my name is boba bole please don't call me bud call me bob he has a personal vendetta against the powerful chrome dome empire a powerful organization who forces the citizens of the margarita kingdom to be bald and bobabo bobobo he's not having it bobovo uses his fighting skills and his ultimate technique the fist of the nose hair to take on the chrome dome empire and restore hair to the land baldy bold will hear of your insolence like many others shown in anime fighting a set of increasingly more powerful enemies is how bobabo's story progresses but the action-packed story is really just a framing device for short sketches which flow from one to the next with the chaotic energy of short form improv arms mean energy so the longer i stay in this bowl of rice the more powerful my wigging skills become that's no fair guy i'm on a low-carb diet you combine that with a high-energy absurdist surrealist tone boba beau starts at an 11 and never lets up well since we're both stuck at least he can't attack fire attack the sketches themselves are often not always very funny and are inserted into the show like a shonen themed version of mad libs but more intense rumble rolling attack [Music] rolling round we're running out of time here it's an interesting contrast like a well-cooked steak and pop rocks so let's unpack the madness that is bobabo bo bobobo say what say what hey i bet you didn't expect to see me in my shower but today's video is sponsored by dr squatch natural soap for men so where else should i be naturally that gross and soggy and also crusty bar of soap you have sitting in your shower has got to go it's stinky nobody likes stinky soap dr squatch isn't only not stinky but it replaces the stink with a lovely character defining fragrance pick from a lovely lineup of fragrances that you would love to display in your bio what does deep sea goat milk say about you well first of all i never knew there were deep sea goats but maybe it also says that you love the ocean but the real ocean is stinky this is all the things you love about the ocean without the stink now what does my personal favorite scent the grapefruit ipa say about me well it says that i love this scent i can't stop smelling it i just love this flavor i mean scent it's so gentle and like nice on your skin why would you want to use mean soap to be nice to your skin i just rinsed it my skin is so soft and gentle right now i don't know but maybe you're a pine tar kind of guy the kind of guy who goes out into the woods in the afternoon and then comes across bigfoot himself only to bring him home for him to tell you about his soap really it's me bigfoot yes stink i'm not dr squatch i'm just a fan of the brand bigfoot prefers all natural ingredients read all the ingredients on the box itself you'll recognize them by clicking the link in the description below new customers can get 20 off of orders 20 or more by using code dsc billiam just click the link in the description below thanks to dr squatch for sponsoring this video produced by dragon ball z studio and more importantly zach bell studio toei animation bob about the anime aired in japan from november 2003 to october of 2005. and an english anime dub adaptation aired on cartoon network from 2005 to 2007. this is the version i remember seeing and it's the version i will be discussing the anime is based on the serialized manga written and illustrated by absurdist mangaka yoshio saway only five volumes of the manga were published in english the first english volume doesn't start with the story's first chapter and unfortunately the english released only encompassed five volumes worth of content i have all five don't believe me count them yourselves i'd never lie to you so unfortunately english fans of the show never really got a lot of content on the page published in english legally that is what little i saw of bobo as a kid i i thought it was like the funniest thing ever it was just crazy high energy and insane and it just appealed to all of my you know pre-diagnosed adhd uh tendencies prepare yourselves for an action show unlike any you've ever seen seriously but also bobo was on kind of late and i didn't have a tv set up in my bedroom with cable so i wouldn't you know be watching tv that late usually at that time of night i was more of like a nintendo ds kind of guy but the show definitely left an impact on me it's a lot to unpack so i'm just gonna sort of break down the first episode then i'm going to explain how the show uses shonen anime as a framing device before finally getting into the absurdity of the show the meat and potatoes or the feet and torpedoes what no way what's going on so let's talk about the genre bobo uses a lot of shonen typically have a similar structure the protagonist and their friends have to continue to fight a series of more powerful and more unique villains head on these fights themselves have so many tropes but generally tension is built through a tipping scale where one character gets the upper hand on another through power transformation strategy branded attacks i mean the fist of the nose hair the fist of the north star there's all these familiar opportunities to replace the expected with the ridiculous bobabo and this guy attack each other it's intense there's a huge dust of smoke a really common suspense tool in anime we're waiting for the smoke to clear to see who won the fight but the smoke clears and we did it we won we did it we won this time it's not just a game it's an adventure we were expecting one of two different results when in reality anything could happen because you know it's a cartoon the structure of these stories and their drama are so familiar that bobobo is able to hit the same dramatic beats with the same rhythm of others shown in anime to create a mad lib style structure where as long as they hit the same beats as those others shonen they can do anything in between i wish i had a pillow my neck i can't go back to that my neck was shaped like a banana never again that reminds me of my neck some call me the bona fide protector of hair this is gonna be a pretty bland explanation of what we see i just want you to taste the flavor of beef and candy there's a lot of self-aware and fourth wall breaking jokes the show begins with a recap of the show as if it's late into the series and the narrator themselves becomes a recurring character hey this is the first episode of a brand new show not a re-run great and i spent all night learning how to pronounce stegosaurus in mississippi in this world everyone is forced to be bald by the chrome dome empire people like pickles and beauty live in defiance of this by having hair the audacity but beauty and pickles are saved by bobabo bobabo uses his powerful technique the fist of the nose hair literally using his excess nose hair as a sort of weapon to defeat the evil hair hunters but what's his motivation he is our protagonist after all that's top secret strictly on a need-to-know basis but since you're here i guess i'll tell you yeah let's hear it hold on pickles huh i'm not telling you the show then cuts to bobabos theater a recurring device for cutaway sketches where we see his backstory ever since i was a little boy i could hear the voices of other people's hair episode 2 is all about me and my dad so he can speak to herron more importantly my dad was all hair with a big heart his father was hair oh i understand so despite boba bear's warning not to come beauty and pickles follow him anyways to take on hair hunt headquarters of the area so bob beau faces off against the commander of the local hair hunt group nostril knuckles bumbo attacks him with his nose hair he has the upper hand it's like running into bad sushi uh big yikes on that voice the villain yanks out the nose hair and oh look at that a a winning ticket he won a collectible boba bow dog are you kidding this doll's a collector's item you won't be able to get it again because it's quite rare as a callback joke to earlier in the episode the people inside of bobabo's nose close up shop meaning he can't use his nose hair anymore hey i need to use my nose hairs have a heart too bad i'm making cannolis [Music] he loses the upper hand the villain is about to succeed bobabo will lose his hair [Music] so should we go to the nut festival next time how can boba beau win without his nose hair the low point of the fight how will the hero overcome this [Music] with the area saved from the chrome dome empire beauty and pickles decide to go with bobabo on his journey hold on pickles you're not allowed to come along telling pickle not to come and then pickle actually being written out of the show despite being a featured character in the first episode is just a perfect example of the chaotic energy that boba beau is trying to you know harness fate brought bobobo and beauty together and their follicles through the follicles have just begun however pickles has been written out of the series forever poor guy he's green with envy i gotta get me a better age it's hard not to pay attention to the show because you never know if they're building up to a joke or story progression and sometimes the joke ends up being story progression i understand a lot of viewers might find that frustrating but i'm a big fan of misdirects and big setups with mundane payoffs i truthfully think this is the greatest form of art and i will not be elaborating on that along the way we meet a large cast of characters who kind of fill out the bobabo posse in the second episode we meet boba beau's sidekick but please don't let him know i called him a sidekick don patch so then how did you like my wigging out it's a touching turn so in my book that means i win gun patch is this weird orange round ball thing his face is so detailed and he has these sleek anime spikes but it's a great contrast it's like the first bad sonic drawing meme it's obvious this man and i share the same destiny therefore i must join forces with him besides i'll save on gas money if i take him with me he's essentially bobabo's comedic partner for sketches and slapstick bits rotten apple it was me don patch oh don pat is always breaking the fourth wall claiming he's the main character and getting competitive with the other characters over their screen time how about a green onion that's it that's my dawn patch sword great i'm gonna thrash him now this framing makes all of his bits and sketches have a goal behind them his wigging out is purely competitive and that makes boba bo his direct rival i have a green onion there it is that's my dawn patch hammer all right now i can thrash him so even though they're just doing a bunch of random sketches for the characters this is this weird competitive rivalry why was one onion better than the other well now you've got to ask yourself just who in the world is this peeping tom through the first few episodes we see this real edgy type a real yamado a real sasuke kind of guy he just keeps following them around there's a real mystery to him i want you to know that we are being followed by someone we know he has a reason to hide man or a car salesman someone's scary no that's not it then who do you think it is the mean green soup aliens mean green soup aliens these aliens favorite food is rice soup i hear they're trying to invade our planet and force earth's entire population to eat this stuff but then the seemingly one-off random weird joke weaves its way into the narrative with this big reveal hi there do you two happen to know this guy this troublemaker must be squelched because he refuses to comply he must be destroyed because he won't eat rice soup not with salmon pickled plums not with seaweed two three he does won't eat oh man this isn't good they've already sent a new bounty hunter like holy sh that's such a funny way to bury the lead but what's this cool kid's deal oh okay he attacks with farts that's like the most uncool thing it could have been i can't breathe later geha wrote in his autobiography i had never been attacked by such an incredible stink bomb it was stinko demaio it could gag a maggot it could knock a buzzard off a pile of manure so gasser here comes along to be an apprentice to bobabo and sort of acts alongside beauty as the more grounded characters who react to all the wild stuff in extreme ways and just how many of those big shocked reactions did you do [Music] why are you guys here two there are more of them three by the way i say they're more grounded characters not grounded characters uh-oh when his color comes off he switches into baby mode look [Music] while the regular four bring a familiar energy to the show that drives it along eventually the recurring cast grows to be pretty big i have to admit i can't sit down and watch too many episodes of this show in a row but the rotating cast does help it feel fresh episode to episode it's just a new character bringing their bits to the routine like rotating people out of an improv cast i came to save you oh darn patch [Music] not to come most of the lineup of characters are enemies turned good guys we have the slick cool guy softin who's literally a scoop of ice cream or maybe something else no one knows what it is but there's a lot of it why do i have this i don't have kids often doesn't really joke he's the serious one dengaku man some sort of little marshmallow creature with a cute little dipped in catchphrase on a stick [Music] right on you're the cutest commander shall we get him so let's actually talk about what goes in between let's break down boba bo's crazy humor and why it actually fits very well into this shonen framing bobobo and don patch's fighting style is called wigan it's like wigging out you know essentially it's the explanation for how the bits and sketches done by bobabo don patch and the others are in fact a part of their fighting style bobo and don patch act out all sorts of scenarios very frequently in costumes and even more frequently in drag oh it's from bobo bat maybe she's got some plans for us to get out of town hello hello purchase health health what's wrong bubble bath here's a great example from the episode don patch is introduced in don patch and bobo team up against the hair hunters for the first time together uh first of all it's really difficult to show isolated clips from this show because usually one joke is in the middle of a bunch of others uh case in point i will not be explaining why bobabo here is a cabbage so this is the end of the fight here's the mad lib style setup boba beau and don patch defeat the villain by huh oh not now hi this is michelle speaking who's this oh hi kathy hi my towel i'm bringing forth my cutest girlfriend to the group d tonight what our date was for tonight oh my god this is so last minute how is he gonna find three friends to bring to the date you have me i'm not taking an eggplant to dinner hey you guys hurry up it's that matters to make ladies wait so they go on the date which goes poorly don't call me ever again i can explain everything way and the embarrassment and humiliation from the bad date leads to his defeat it may shock you to learn that there is no filler content in boba beau everything is a part of the canon even the stuff that contradicts each other but like many long running sitcoms or long form improv the overarching story is really there to further the humor with a lot of running gags and jokes [Music] the dawn patch sword he's using a green onion no i can't believe i'm seeing the dawn patch sword in person and i'm gonna see it close up real soon oh yeah and because of bovabo's chaotic improvised feeling when they do interweave a callback joke into the show in a fun and clever way it feels like performative gymnastics just like improv but part of the comedy comes from the excitement of seeing continuity because the expectation is that there is going to be narrative loose ends because of the nature of the peace so it is impressive when they enter we they seemingly made up detail back into the threads of the plot i just want you to be able to follow how the complicated web of sketches pay off jelly jiggler's tragic backstory inspires boba beau and don patch to get a job ah here we go a full page ad work for the hair hunt troops tracking down bubble bowl full benefits paid vacations and free haircuts pear hunt troops hmm huh this is good really good what a job says you get weekends off don patch doesn't want to get a job and bobabo was angry about that this spins off into a sketch where don patch isn't able to hold a relationship together with boba beau's sister you always tell me you want us to be together but i need you to prove it to me if i were to go get a job that would blow my chance of becoming a great guitarist and a rock superstar you're such a liar i've never even seen you play guitar you're such a bum you've never even had enough money to even buy one that thing next to your boombox you call your ex isn't a guitar it's a pound of unsalted butter bubble bow and don patch agree to go through the interview process together mabo told me what happened between you two she told me you wouldn't get a job she never liked my guitar so they go to the hair hunt headquarters with don patch carrying over his incentive to get a job from the sketch they'll want to hire you you look like a nimrod i hope so if i don't get this job i can kiss mabo don goodbye sees somebody he knows oh no it's him and like with many bobabo characters they have a deep and complicated history i had a bright future and the sharp eye of a champion until the bird brain came along well now it's my move and checkmate during the talent show portion of the interview don patch plays his butter it's a show no mr bird brain what special skill do you want to show us huh say hello to my little friend freezing now put what you were grabbing for on the table slowly the butter knocked him out the real gun is a fake don patch's butter which is not a guitar is actually a gun brilliant then we learned bobabo actually looked angry earlier because he planned to use this as an opportunity to open the door in the conference room which leads to the antagonist who they face in the next episode there is no filler for there to be thrilling dramatic tension there needs to be stakes both physically and personally for the characters most shown and build these stakes with long dramatic backstories and we learn more about the characters as time goes on so when the tension starts building and starts flaring up it has so much weight behind it only a shonen anime can make you cry about a kid making his special volleyball shot in a game of volleyball but bobabo rushes over backstory and keeps moving forward there is no wood on this fire it's all gas all the time the dramatic tone the show takes is so serious and so sincerely executed that it's both hilarious and also it tricks you into believing the drama if only for a moment but in both bow that dramatic device can be anything at any time [Applause] please forgive me i messed up spikey who's that for example i love it when boba beau takes on a heroic tone and starts talking to the villain as if he needs to avenge the death of don pat you took our little friend away from us so you'll have to pay but don patch is alive and well and standing right behind boba below so what i destroyed don patch who really cares about him anyway all of us that's who we'll miss you don patch old friend did i miss something any detail about a character dialogue or scene can spin off and become its own bit bobabo takes the yes and principle to a whole another level but because the show already asks its audience to accept so many ridiculous scenarios for the sake of the comedic sketches it's not so much of a stretch that your audience will also accept the dramatic implication of a character's death despite the fact that that character very much is still alive just for the sake of making the scene feel that much more intense i love this the ending of this fight needs to be much more dramatic so let's reveal a never-before-mentioned deep childhood connection between general jelly jiggler and boba beau it contradicts the way the characters have spoken to each other for episodes prior to this exchange real friends help friends so don't let me stray from being good sure if i have to stick you to a ferris wheel i will [Music] general jelly jiggler of the chrome dome empire now has to redeem himself hello there wanna score your jelly at half price ma'am um actually i've got some why would you buy that when i'm a lot cheaper see thanks but no thanks i'm free so we get this b story where he as a block of jelly tries to be sold at a grocery store it's just this standard for bobabo absurd side story being cut to throughout the episode that unassumingly is sprinkled in with a bunch of other random one-shot cutaway jokes bobabo realizes he needs more support pardon me yeah what do you want [Music] what i would like is a jelly jiggler oh gosh i've been bought i'm a product i always knew it would feel like this i'm so grateful bobabo buys general jelly jiggler from the grocery store and it emotionally plays out like acceptance after a redemption arc it's absurdity with this emotional weight sort of works not because bobabo so beautifully dramatically executes this scenario but because it so perfectly emulates the dramatic beats of similar character redemption arcs honestly i think the closest one to one comparison to make to bobabo is probably animaniacs the warner siblings also have this chaotic energy which they use to relentlessly torture whatever poor individual they've come across for a sketch the quickly changing emotional states the costume quick changes the antagonist losing sight of their goal and accidentally going along with the sketch for a moment it's all here all right bobobo playtime is over it's time to destroy yeah don't think so the villains and boba beau are just new characters being introduced into the comedy routine by the time jelly jiggler and the others joined the team the animaniacs comparison couldn't be more apparent i'm hardly in this episode yeah me too but can you guess who's been in it even less it's him but i'm in it now with the villain playing against their regular antics whenever they occur the fight with over is a great example of this by episode 33 we haven't really seen the gang sincerely have trouble with a fight i'll stretch you into a thousand pieces and i'll start with you jelly jiggler but over is this overpowered terrifying villain hello waiter would you give that villain over there a pink lemonade and just tell them that it's on me right he's just so serious when compared to the others and it's so fun to watch them bounce off of his stoic tone gilly jiggler says his pink lemonade is on you by the end of the fight we've been seeing this ring on his chest light up and it's almost there what's gonna happen my tank's full it's game over i can turn it to my real self oh not that he's about to turn into his real sales oh he's gonna transform into his true form they've never faced torpedo girl hey that's not what it says in my script and my script is marked final the battle with torpedo girl is the episode of boba bo i could never forget as a child let's get her before she gets us with the phone booth attack out of my way [Music] the so-called joke killer torpedo girl will hit anyone who tells a joke she doesn't find funny according to legend joe killers travel the world and they destroy people who tell jokes that they don't think are very funny what oh no i've seen this show we're done for hey guys no more bad jokes okay i don't get it i thought mr popovo's costume was quite humorous well you're wrong keep in mind telling jokes can be seriously dangerous i should know because i'm a torpedo and she's a serious critic anything funny understand that's not an issue for us especially with our joke writers your very existence itself is a big joke and how can we stop you from killing our jokes you can't stop me because i'm a torpedo all honestly at this point all i could think to do is just list my favorite bits there are so many jokes and moments i didn't get a chance to talk about master of evil are you kidding me that's no hairdo that's a hair don't and who sleeps on a pile of gold coins hey buddy spend some of that coin on a futon or something you know who sleeps on a mattress bo bowl but i've talked about this show for way too long i find bobabo bo bobobo very over stimulating i like watching a couple episodes at a time but after that i'm cranky like a cat who's been pet too much yeah done that sword time that's a green onion it is there are a lot of bits that aren't great and some that are downright uncomfortable honestly i was shocked at how much i was into the show it's a blast to watch and while not every joke lands as soon as you're sick of a bit the next one will start to begin going back to comparing this to a comic strip it's like i love the far side by gary larson but it's like only one in 10 that really make me laugh and the same can be said for boba beau but oh my god could it genuinely make me laugh okay i've been in this chair for like an hour straight and i really gotta pee so uh anyways i'm tired i'm stressed i'm gonna go get some sleep after i pee [Music] you

Channel: Billiam

Views: 440,492

Keywords: bobobo, bobobo-bo bobo-bo, Yoshio Sawai, Billiam, commentary, nostalgia, Cartoon Network, Toonami

Id: qS4P0ReIS4Y

Length: 29min 50sec (1790 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Silver-Laugh]

It finally came! :O

[u/Johnny2071]

I was a bit worried at first, considering how many things the dub gets wrong, which can be construed as misinformation.

I'm STILL working on the Fandom, and there's so much information I have yet to add.

This franchise isn't ready for proper reviews, Cinema Sins parodies, or character battles. Not even game reviews, since NONE of the games were localized.